"Is this really the end?" Mira asked in a worried tone.
Wearing the bag over her shoulder, she was currently sitting on a nearby chair. Meanwhile, I searched around for another bag, hopefully something that I could use.
Found one!
Luckily, there was one on the lower shelves.
"Don't worry too much. Think of it as a season 2 of life. A little darker in tone… bone-chilling maybe…" I added, trying to make a joke to lighten the mood as I continued looking through the bag.
The bag had a few surgery books with the mark 'Return it to the library before Sunday.' placed on the top. I paused at the note for a few seconds, searched out the marker from the same bag, and then crossed 'before Sunday' from it.
Better.
Then, after removing the books and other unnecessary things from there, I began placing the leftover instruments I could find into the bag. I even took some aspirin, some bandages and a few needles, vials, and painkillers for later.
"Is there anything in the storage that we would need later?" I asked Mira, making her look at me with a slightly alarmed look. Looking at that panicked face, I could see that she was still trying to get used to this whole apocalypse.
"I… uh…" she tried to recall for a few moments before I sighed and added,"Forget it. We will take a quick look."
I won't push her to get used to this. It wasn't something that you could get used to in just a few moments. Though if she still behaved so dazed and panicked even later, I would most probably leave her with a few amenities and a weapon.
"Let's go," I added, getting out of the supply room.
I looked around at the zombies to find the one in the worker's clothes. Then, picking up the ID card tugged on its waist belt, I used it to unlock the storage room.
-Click!
I opened the door before pausing.
How much time before the zombies attack me?
There was no response from the system.
How much time before the zombies attack me?
Once again, nothing.
Nodding at that, I opened the gate and entered it without a second thought. The entire storage compartment was just a bunch of shelves with various items randomly placed on them. Unlike the supply room, they weren't placed in order and were just randomly shelved in their respective container types.
Thinking about how I would need to manually search through everything, I kind of wanted to skip it. I mean, we already had a lot from the supply room. There was no need for me to-
"Oh, we had this! I didn't know we had this!"
My eyes then went to the knife-like cleaver in the shelf's corner. It was way sharper than an ordinary knife and, because of its sterile nature, it had been polished to look as neat as possible.
[Surgical Cleaver
Attack: 35
Durability: 50/50]
The crowbar had an attack of 20, with a durability of 120, so in comparison, it was a better weapon for decisive hits than blunt ones. Hence, more suited for stronger zombies. Like the crawler.
I should search more!!
Excited, I began the search for anything similar or better, but sadly, my luck must have run out when I got the cleaver. A few more medicines, but that's it. Not even one sharp instrument that can be used as a weapon.
Just in case, I did another thorough check before I finally stopped and dusted my hands.
"I guess… this is it," I said with a defeated expression as I looked at Mira, who was lost in thought. All this time, she was just staring into empty space while I continued to work. It made me worried a little, on the part that she might be more of a burden if it continues.
"Worried?" I asked, whereupon she turned to me and slowly nodded.
"It's okay. Let's find the other survivors first, and then we can see how it goes from there," I added, trying to be a bit more comforting. Though with no apparent change on her face, she nodded at me.
Moving back to where I came from, I turned to the right, and hopefully could reach the emergency exit with no zombies in between from where we could go to the upper floors. If needed, I can leave Mira on the 15th floor and hunt on my own for the time being. This would probably give her time to get used to all this.
"Mark?" Mira said.
Snapping back from my thoughts, I looked ahead at Mark, standing in the center of the hallway.
"Mark!!" Mira had an ecstatic expression, smiling brightly as she ran towards that guy… wait!
Didn't I just lock Mark into the 3rd recovery room?!!!!
My eyes widened as I saw the semi-zombified Mark, recalling that it would have been impossible for him to get out on his own.
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
"MIRA WAIT!!!" I shouted, but to no avail. I saw her moving towards that guy and hugging him tightly. That guy, Mark, just stood there for a couple of seconds before slowly hugging her back.
What is going on here? I questioned whether I was pretty sure that he was a zombie… or not?
I would have clapped and smiled for their reunion if not for the zombie, then suddenly showing a creepy smile on his face, before his mouth opened up wide.
And then…
"GET AWAY FROM HIM, MIRA!"
-CHOMP!!!
Before she could even react, he took a huge bite of her neck.
I saw how he killed Mira in one go before her body fell down on the ground, jerking, as a calm, relieved smile was plastered on her face. A few moments later, that too stopped, as Mira finally died right in front of my eyes, erasing any movements she was showing.
That zombie, Mark, then looked at me with a slight smile, blood dripping from his mouth while he just stood there, in the same position as before.
[Inspect!]
[Zombie: Thinker
Grade: Lesser D!]
And I tightened my cleaver, narrowed my eyes, getting ready for another possibly ugly fight.